Utility vehicles and other off road machines may be equipped with various front attachments or implements such as loader buckets and pallet forks that use hydraulic cylinders to perform lift and tilt functions. Other front attachments including snow blowers, blades and rotary brooms use hydraulic cylinders for angling instead of the tilt function. Some front attachments also may be powered by a power take off (PTO).
Utility vehicles may include a joystick to operate a selective control valve (SCV) to extend or retract a hydraulic lift cylinder and hydraulic tilt cylinder. An operator may move the joystick fore and aft to extend and retract the lift cylinder, and left to right to extend and retract the tilt cylinder. Some utility vehicles also include a tilt lockout switch adjacent the joystick. The tilt lockout switch may automatically activate when operating PTO driven attachments, or may be activated by the operator to lock out the tilt function. Additionally, an auxiliary hydraulic switch adjacent the joystick may be used by the operator to extend or retract a hydraulic angling cylinder on front attachments that require angling instead of tilting.
However, if the operator does not lockout the tilt function before the tilt cylinder is extended or retracted, this can result in potential damage to the attachment or front PTO. Additionally, it may be difficult for operators to control a front implement using a joystick and auxiliary switch at the same time.
A front attachment control system is needed that can use the joystick for lift, tilt and angling functions. A front attachment control system is needed that reduces or eliminates the risk of damage to attachments and PTO shafts when using front attachments that require angling instead of tilting. A front attachment control system is needed that is ergonomic to operate when using various different attachments.